July 16, 2009

"Summary: A widely used biomarker of inflammation, C-reactive protein (CRP), is associated with cardiovascular risk in people with HIV, according to a large study reported in the July 2009 Journal of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndromes. HIV positive people with elevated CRP had more than 4 times the risk of acute myocardial infarction (MI) than HIV negative people with normal CRP. But two other recent general population studies suggest CRP may not be a causal factor or a good predictor of heart disease."